Maternity Service: A Love Letter to Mothers from the Front Line of Maternity Leave
About this ebook
'In one important sense maternity leave is a misnomer, as it involves no actual leave. You are constantly on, even when your offspring is having a nap. There is nothing restful about it. In another sense maternity leave is aptly named, because it’s a period of leave from all you know: taking leave of one’s mind, body, job, and relationships'
When Emma Barnett began her second maternity leave, she realized that, despite having been there before, as soon as her first leave finished the rose-tinted lenses had descended and she immediately forgot what the experience was actually like when you’re in it. This collective forgetting, which leads to well-meaning comments such as ‘enjoy every minute’ and ‘treasure this special time’, is doing a disservice to women, leaving them unprepared for the more complicated reality.
In Maternity Service, Emma sets out to capture this reality, in real time. She isn’t offering advice on sleep-training or weaning or helping your baby reach milestones. Instead, this book is a celebration and acknowledgement of the work of being on maternity leave, with its soaring highs and challenging lows, and its impact on how women feel about themselves and their purpose.
About the author
Emma Barnett is an award-winning broadcaster and journalist. She was named Interviewer of the Year for 2022 at the British Journalism awards and is a presenter on BBC Radio 4’s flagship Today Programme, as well as hosting TV interviews and documentaries across the BBC. She has presented programmes that include Woman’s Hour on BBC Radio 4 and Newsnight. She also presented a global interviews programme on Bloomberg TV, interviewing international figures from across the world of politics, sport, entertainment and technology.
Emma pens a bi-weekly newspaper column for the i, and was previously a columnist for the Sunday Times and the Daily Telegraph, where she was also the Women’s Editor. After the birth of her first child, she wrote Period: It’s about Bloody Time, her first book.
Emma grew up in Manchester, and now lives in London with her husband and their two children.
